Afghan officials say they have killed dozens of Al-Qaeda officials during operations in eastern and southern Afghanistan, including senior leader Omar Khetab.
The National Directorate of Security said in a statement on December 5 that some 80 members of the extremist Islamic group had been killed and 27 others arrested in the joint operations with NATO-led coalition forces.
It did not give a date for when the operations were carried out.
The Afghan intelligence agency added that its forces also destroyed five Al-Qaeda bases in southern Zabul Province and the eastern Ghazni and Paktia provinces.
The statement said Khetab -- who was also known as Omar Mansoor -- was the second-most powerful leader of the Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent group, which has vowed to establish an Islamic caliphate by overthrowing the governments in Pakistan, India, Burma, and Bangladesh.
